Infusion 2007

Well, we are finally back from Infusion Summer Conference and it was AMAZING! We took 22 students from our student leadership team here at JSM! It was a life changing encounter with God! Worship was intense, the messages were inspiring, we served the community, and had a blast! God is so great and is doing great things in our students! They really engaged with God's presence and power! I feel like this will be the beginning of some awesome things to come for our youth! God is wanting to rock through Sallisaw and we are up for the call!!! We are not just playing church here we are out to change the world for Christ! God's call on us is so powerful and consuming and we want to be and do ALL that God had for us here at Journey! We are truly raising up a generation of passionate followers of Christ! There is soooo much more to God than we could think or imagine and I want to pursue hard after HIS presence! Camp really inspired me to get more into God's word because that is where the power is, in HIS promises and truth! We get so fearful that the word of God and His promises might not work, but God is faithful and His WORD is alive and active able to cut through anything! I believe God's word can cut through the hardest heart, the worst sinner, the biggest atheist, and anything that is before it! We need to become a people that cherish the WORD and believe EVERYTHING that is in it! His word will never return void it will always go out and accomplish what it is supposed to do! God's promises aren't just stories and inspirational fairy tales they are the REAL DEAL! When we proclaim the word and the word is hidden deep in our heart it will go forth with POWER! I want my life to be used by God in the most passionate way that it can! Let's all step up to the plate and swing for Christ in every conversation, action, thought we do!

Game Night 2007

Last night @ JSM was awesome! We had our 1st Game Night! We had a crazy relay race then we played some intense dodge ball! We had prizes for best dressed gamer, best dressed team, and of course the winners of the night! We went all out with refs, whistles, air horns, and the whole deal! It is great to have nights like these where we build memories and laugh together just having a good time! It makes our intense services that much more meaningful when relationship are strong between the students and leaders! We had a great turnout last night even though it is summer, it is like our momentum is still staying strong. Go to http://www.skyalbum.com/showAlbum/79127 to see more pics!

Well, 2 more days till Meat & Man night! Get ready everyone and empty your bellies 'cause it's gonna be good! We have been preparing for this for a few months now so it is finally here! It is going to be a great night for the MEN! Check out this video for Meat & Man Night!

Wednesday

Well, tonight is game night and it is going to be awesome! I don't think the air is up and running yet so it will probably be a little hot but sweat is good! 4 more days till Infusion and it is going to be a good year for our leadership team! We are excited to see all that God is going to do. Well, today I have lots to do! Being that we are gone next week I am trying to make up for a week lost in the office, but I think I will be good! I desperately need to get my hair cut and shave, so that is a must before we go!

Meat & Man night is coming up Saturday and I can't wait! We are going to eat lots of incredible food from the grill and I am so excited to hear our special guest, pastor Mike! What a great opportunity we have to get the men of our church and community together and have a good time yet step up as spiritual leaders in our world! Men of ALL ages be at the church Saturday @ 6pm!

Today Was Fun!

Today was a GREAT day! We all went to the Zoo in Tulsa and we had a blast! Zion loved to see all the animals and play around the zoo. I was staring at a shark on the floor in the shark tank itching my eye and another huge shark swam right in front of the of the glass and scared the bejeebers out of me! I jumped a little and felt pretty dumb, but I laughed at myself, so that is good! Anyway, we had a lot of fun hanging out all day up there and it wore Zion out she took like a 4 hour nap afterward!

Tomorrow I go to Henryetta to pick up all the cookie dough orders from the fund raiser we did for Infusion! I am loading up like 40 boxes of cookie dough, I will be very tempted to eat it ALL! I will probably have the car at like 5 degrees so it doesn't melt! Then the students pick it up between 4-6 tomorrow at the church!

Well, Infusion is in like 6 days, MEAT & MAN NIGHT is Saturday, which is going to be AWESOME! and Game Night is Wednesday for youth! What a great week ahead of us! I have much to do since we will be gone all next week!

Father's Day

Today was a wonderful father's day for me and for all of our father's at Journey church! We had the, "Big Daddy Bowl 2007" where members of our church voted for their favorite fathers who competed in a challenge this morning at both services! They had 5 stations to race through the 1st being a 2x4 where they had to hammer a nail into the wood, then move on to baby diaper changing station and change a dolls diaper, then to a line of girls where they had to put their hair in pig tails, then to a hot dog stations where they had to eat a hot dog as fast as they could, then to the final station which was a couch and they had to find a remote with their name on it hidden in the cushion. We had referees with shirts and whistles, awesome intro videos for the contenders, and a fun challenge. The winner got a camo hat with the bid daddy logo, a bobble head trophy of a coach, and a brisket the size of my leg! It was an awesome challenge today that honored our fathers and gave our church a good laugh!

Pastor Tony, Mrs. Erin and my family hung out all day today in Forth Smith. We had lunch went to the mall and just had a good time. It is so great to have good friends that we can just have fun with! Now we are on our back porch with our tikki torches lite. Erin and Zion are coloring and I am on the computer! It is a beautiful night and it was a beautiful day! I love my family and am so grateful for them!

Today is father's day and I have the best father anyone could dream of. He is such an example of what it is to be a true, Godly father! My dad has always been there to answer questions, give advice and encourage me ALL throughout my life! I am so blessed to have him! If I could become half the man my dad is I would consider that a great success in life! He inspires me to be positive, believe God, and to follow God no matter the cost! I couldn't imagine where my life would be without my dad being there, helping me and giving his wisdom! Though I joke that I have surpassed my father in various ways (such as guitar) I haven't even come close to becoming ALL that my dad is! My dad is an awesome picture of what our heavenly father is and for that I say, "Happy father's day DAD, I love YOU!"

Last Night

Last night @ JSM was AMAZING! We had an all worship night and God really showed up! We had some ministry take place and just a great time hanging out with God! I feel like we really had a break through with worship and just encountering God's presence! The students really opened up and connected with God! We love our students here! It makes us so excited to see these students encountering God's presence in a very real authentic way! We love to have fun here @ JSM, but above all we want to engage with God's presence and His power to change us into the people that He has called us to be! You know who have truly worshiped when you got a work out if you know what I mean! We were hot, stinky, sweaty, and still pressing on into worship! It is all about chasing after God and running into Him! Last night was all about that and I believe we achieved it!

Now we have our summer leadership conference and it is going to be great! It is like last night to the 10th power! We are going to really raise up an awesome generation of passionate followers of Christ here @ Journey!

Moving Ahead!

Infusion is just around the corner and it is going to be awesome! We are taking our student leadership team to Murray Kentucky June 24th for a week long conference and we are excited! We have exactly 30 people going right now, so that is perfect! These students are going to encounter God's presence like never before and God is going to do some amazing things in our group!

Tonight we are having an ALL worship night for youth. The heart of tonight is to just simply get in God's presence and worship Him with all that's within us! Sometimes we need times of nothing more than just connecting with God and hang out in His presence. The Bible says there is fullness of joy in His presence and that all things are found in Him and Him alone! Tonight is all about just hanging with God!

Next week we are doing an ALL game night! That's right a night of intense dodge ball, crazy games, competitions and more. We are breaking up into teams and they will be able to accumulate points for each game. We are having a prize for the best dressed gamer, and best dressed team. This night is all about just building relationships together and having a good ole' time!

God is on the move and we are following Him! So many good things are in store for us and we simply need to just line up with God's heart! We make following God so hard sometimes, but I think the simplicity of just following one step at a time is where true peace is at. Most people think peace is knowing all the details in advance so they don't have to fear, but peace is knowing that we serve a God who is madly in love with us and has everything under control for our lives. It is not up to our ability to move ahead it is surrendering to His! God is faithful and the more we simply trust Him the more peace, joy and love fills our hearts till it overflows out of us into others! What a GREAT GOD we serve!!!

Youth Sunday

Today was great at church! It was youth Sunday and ALL the students did an amazing job with everything! We are so blessed to have such a great group of students to work with! Our church is totally behind us and the youth, we are so blessed! Even though a lot of students are on vacation and other various things, we had a great turn out of teenagers. It is good to bridge the gap between adults and students and this morning really built unity among the groups! I am sitting here in my living room chilling out on a Sunday afternoon, probably about ready to fall asleep. There is nothing like a Sunday afternoon nap! This has been a great start to a great summer. Now we have the remodeling of the Zone, camp and some other events, but it is time to get moving with the Zone! We have a lot to do in order to get in ready for a grand opening in September! The parking lot sale really enabled us to have the funds to get fun and creative with decorating so it will be very cool! God is moving everyday and we just need to open up and recognize it! It is so good to be here in Sallisaw serving God, Journey church & Pastor Jeff & Stephani!!!

Getting Ready!

I am sitting here in my office getting ready for our youth Sunday practice, it is going to be great! We are doing a fun generation skit that will take everyone back in time to when they were a teenager! Last night Erin had the girls book club overnight at our house, and it went great! They had a lot of fun going over the book they are reading, "Be the Change" by Zack Hunter! They also played games and ate lots of food and watched, "End of the Spear"! I went to Forth Smith with Daniel Hayes and we hung out! I figured a house full of girls would outnumber me so I got out of Dodge! Danny and I had a great time talking about God and His calling on us!

Well summer is here and actually we are into it a few weeks believe it or not! We have much to do with remodeling the Zone, events, camps, amusement parks, food fights, and all that fun summer stuff! Next Wednesday we are having an ALL worship night for JSM! We want to take a night and just hang out in God's presence. Then the next week we are having an ALL game night where the students will break up into teams and compete against each other through all types of events. We are going to have prizes for the best dressed gamer and best dressed team. We are getting referee shirts, whistles, and the whole deal, it will be a fun night!

God is doing great things here, and we pray that He continues to give us favor and the ability to connect with these students. We are still getting to know ALL the kids we have it seems never ending with meeting new students that come out that we haven't really talked to yet. We really want to reach all these students but we are taking it a chunk at a time! It is much harder to walk into a youth group of 90+ kids and get to know them than walking into a small group of 15 kids, so we are getting there! Praise God that Journey church is investing into the youth and Pastor Jeff is 100% behind us, what a great church, great pastor, and great GOD we serve!

Good Times Are Ahead!

Tonight we had youth and got everything ready to go for Youth Sunday this weekend! We gave everybody their roles for the drama and got people assigned for greeters and ushers. After the service tonight we had a parent's meeting for all the 4twelve leadership team! We gave them all the info about Infusion and just talked through what the week is all about! Many camps are about just hanging out and playing games but this conference is about raising up passionate followers of Christ in this generation! We are going to have an awesome trip June 24th - 29th!

Well, Erin and I have been going at it these last few weeks getting home late and just doing the stuff that needs to be done for ministry! Next Friday we are going back home to Indiana for my brother's wedding! We are looking forward to seeing family and getting away for a few days! Sometimes you just need to step out of your normal routine and get some fresh air! We were so busy at our last church and stepped into a busy ministry here as well! We haven't had a vacation in a while so this will be nice to step away just for a few days! We are only going to be gone Friday - Monday so it will be a short but good trip! It takes 11 hours or so to get home so it is a lot of driving but I love being with my wife and daughter as much as I can!!! Good times are ahead in more ways than one!

Week 1 of Summer

Tuesday in the office! The lot sale was amazing, we did great! I am so proud of the youth who came out and helped and all of our leaders who did soooo much! It was a huge undertaking, but it was all worth it!

Sunday morning was the MC graduation, and they did a fantastic job! Master's Commission is an amazing program that truly raises up modern day disciples! Pastor Tony & Mrs. Erin are perfect for leading MC, they are doing a great job! We are going to miss these students over the summer, it will be lonesome without them! Hopefully next year most of them will come back and I believe we have a few new students that are very close to committing to MC! They are a huge asset to Journey and the Kingdom, WE LOVE YOU GUYS!

This week is another busy one! We have a meeting for all the parents of the 4Twelve leadership team Wednesday night! We are going to Infusion Summer Conference June 24th and this meeting is to fill them in on all the details. I am excited to meet some of the parents I have not met yet and get a chance to share with them!

This Sunday is youth Sunday and we are going to have an awesome service! We have some fun things planned as well as getting our adults to understand what God is doing in this generation today! What a great summer we have ahead of us!

Lot Sale

Well, we are all ready to go for the lot sale! We have set up everyday this week from morning till evening! We have more stuff than a warehouse! Our people have responded so wonderfully to donating items for the sale! Tomorrow is going to be a BIG day from dusk till dawn! I pray we raise lots of money and have a great time! I am exicted about the sale, but I will be glad when it is behind us! This week I have been backed up with the sale so much that I have soooo many tasks I need to get done! I love weeks like this when it is all about working 110% and giving it all you got cause I sleep so well when it is over. It makes rest even that much greater when you are out of gas!

Well, Sunday service is the last service with Master Commission and we are going to MISS them! This group is so amazing in all they do! They serve the church and the community with passion and dedication! They are a huge part of what goes on behind the scenes and also on the scene!

Well, I am about ready to pass out, I am tired and ready for a simple night at home which I guess will come next week or later! Tonight we are still getting ready for everything tomorrow so I better get going!